Federal court rules states can outlaw patrol towing

Appellate decision may make Washington's case against same firm moot

Published 10:00 pm, Monday, May 9, 2005

A federal appeals court has effectively stopped a patrol-towing firm that for two years had been sweeping private parking lots in San Diego and briefly expanded its operations to the Seattle area.

Yesterday's ruling could make a similar case pending for Washington unnecessary.

West Coast Towing, which had operated in Kent for about a year, had won a federal lawsuit in California in 2003 allowing the company to patrol private parking lots and impound improperly parked vehicles without the specific permission of property owners.

Since then, the company, and more copycat tow operators, have increased impounding cars in Southern California, especially in the middle of the night when property owners usually wouldn't call for a tow truck.

Some Oregon Residents Upset at Prospect of Pumping Their Own GasBuzz 60

Doug Baldwin playcallingBy Michael-Shawn Dugar, SeattlePI

Van Crashes Into Pedestrians Injuring SixAssociated Press

US military to accept transgender recruits after Trump drops appealEuronews

Snow on Christmas Eve, 2017Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Ice carving at WinterfestSeattle Post-Intelligencer

Amtrak derails near OlympiaGrant Hindsley / SeattlePI

Golden retriever meets Darth Vader and EwokSeattle Post-Intelligencer

Seattle's tunnel project, 2017 in reviewWSDOT

Hillary Clinton Book Signing Capitol HillSeattle Post-Intelligencer

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that because states have a right to impose laws to protect public safety, California's law is valid requiring tow truck operators to get proper permission before a "non-consensual" tow.

Patrol towing typically occurs under arrangements by the towing company and a private property owner to allow tow trucks to monitor parking lots and impound any vehicles the tow truck driver deems improperly parked.

John Tillison, West Coast's owner, also filed a federal lawsuit in Tacoma, similar to the one he won in San Diego. The state of Washington temporarily prevailed, however, until the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which governs federal courts in Western Washington, had an opportunity to rule.

Related Stories

Washington has a hearing scheduled before the appeals panel in June, but yesterday's decision might render Washington's case moot, said Assistant State Attorney General Diane McDaniel.

Washington and California have similar laws regarding impound authorization, and McDaniel said that she has asked the court to consider Tillison's case against the state in the same vein as San Diego's case.

In Washington, California and many other states, tow truck operators must receive authorization to take a specific vehicle -- a signed form -- from the property owner or agent at the time and place of impound. Towing companies may not act as agents.

When patrol towing, tow truck drivers are not called by the property owners and do not get authorization to take specific vehicles.

In February 2004, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported about so-called patrol towing by West Coast Towing and another firm, TBT Towing. Though state officials had always deemed patrol towing illegal, Tillison described to the newspaper how his company was doing it and insisted he had the right to do it.

Managers of the other company, TBT Towing, at the time denied engaging in patrol towing. But subsequent investigation by the state Department of Licensing found that the company had been forging authorization forms. Officials have moved to revoke TBT's towing license.

In Kent, for about three months, West Coast Towing charged vehicle owners in apartment complexes more than $200 to retrieve their cars from impound. But in March 2004, West Coast was ordered by the state Department of Licensing and the Washington State Patrol to stop patrol towing. At some point afterward, the company began clamping cars, which licensing officials also deemed illegal.

State officials revoked West Coast's tow operators license in January.

Officials from the San Diego Police Department and city attorney's office declined to comment on yesterday's ruling until they could analyze it.